Linux? On the Macintosh? With Mach?

Discover MkLinux—what machines it runs on and what it will do when it gets there.

So, Why Linux?

Need you ask? Linux is the overwhelming favorite among users
of free Unix clones. Linux provides Unix features such as true
multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading,
TCP/IP networking and many other advanced features. Versions of
Linux have been ported to a wide variety of platforms, including
other PowerPC-based computers, making the Power Macintosh port that
much easier.

The Linux community is large, growing, active and involved.
This community promotes development and exchange of software and
ideas, making it an excellent environment for a new OS product.
And, last but not least, Linux is covered by the GNU General Public
License, ensuring Apple's contributions will not be used in some
other vendor's proprietary product.

Why Power Macintosh?

You may be asking yourself, “Why would I want to run Linux
on a Power Macintosh?” After all, the Linux community is
overwhelmingly oriented toward Intel hardware. Why change?

For one thing, it's good for Apple and Apple enthusiasts. As
noted above, Linux opens the door to a new Macintosh market. Many
researchers and scientists who might well find the Macintosh a
useful tool, cannot justify the purchase of a second computer
system. If their shop runs Unix, a Macintosh just didn't fit
in—until now.

University laboratories and dorm rooms are another target.
With the availability of MkLinux, users can benefit from the best
of both worlds: using Linux for research and batch data processing
and MacOS for graphical applications, desktop publishing, and much
more. So, Apple may sell the machine, but you get the fun. Think of
all those cool MacOS applications just waiting to be explored, not
to mention the joy of using the Power Mac's multimedia capabilities
under MkLinux.

In keeping with Apple's traditions, the highly integrated
Power Macintosh hardware greatly eases Linux system administration.
Power Macs are delivered as complete systems. Thus, a Power
Macintosh normally can run MkLinux straight “out of the box”,
without the addition of cards, chips and other components. Because
Power Macs use an intelligent bus such as NuBus or PCI, the OS can
deal with hardware configuration concerns such as DMA addressing
and interrupt vectors.

In fact, as we tell folks at trade shows: “Once you've
installed it, MkLinux is really just Linux. You'll have to give up
a few things, of course—DMA vectors, IRQ settings, jumpers,
incompatible BIOS code—but basically, it's just Linux...”

Although MkLinux, Apple Computer's Microkernel Linux for the
Power Macintosh, has been under development for a few years, it has
been available to the general public for only a short while.
Apple's first public announcement concerning MkLinux was made at
the Free Software Foundation's First Conference on Freely
Redistributable Software (February 1996).

Apple announced it was supporting a project with the Open
Software Foundation (OSF; now merged with X/Open to form the Open
Group) to port Linux to a Mach base and to port Mach to a variety
of Power Mac products. The project was initiated, sponsored and
funded by Apple Computer.

OSF provided the Mach 3.0 Microkernel (developed by Carnegie
Mellon University and the OSF Research Institute) and the
engineering team to port the code. (An OSF paper on
MkLinux—“Linux on the OSF Mach 3 Micro-kernel”—was presented at
the conference.)

Apple's February 1996 announcement predicted the first port
of MkLinux would become available in the summer of 1996. Exceeding
expectations, the first general release of MkLinux, Developer
Release 1 (DR1), became available in May. MkLinux DR1 was followed
by DR2, released in September 1996. DR3 is scheduled for release in
early spring of 1997.

MkLinux releases tend to incorporate large numbers of
changes. Hundreds of megabytes of new or changed material must be
acquired, whether by FTP or CD-ROM, typically requiring a complete
re-installation. Consequently, full MkLinux releases are made on a
relatively infrequent basis (only when warranted by a sufficiently
large or fundamental set of changes).

Between releases, Apple issues minor updates via FTP. Some
updates provide bug fixes; others introduce new or experimental
features. In either case, they are meant to be used with a specific
MkLinux release.

What Is MkLinux?

At this point, you may be wondering exactly what MkLinux is.
Does it run the MacOS Finder? Does it run X11? Are all the commands
I know and love available? For that matter, how is the name itself
pronounced?

First things first: MkLinux is officially pronounced
“em-kay” Linux, but is often pronounced McLinux. This is in line
with Linux tradition, which permits Linux itself to be pronounced
in any of several ways. (Li-nucks, Li-nooks, Lie-nooks and even
Lee-nooks are quite commonly heard.)

In any event, MkLinux is a complete port of Linux, with a
full set of GNU tools and accessories, including X11R6, which runs
on top of the Mach micro-kernel. Hence, Mk (Microkernel) Linux.
Because MkLinux is really just Linux, it doesn't run the
Finder—yet. On the other hand, it does run
just about any Linux command you could imagine. (Commands that
require Intel-based hardware are, of course, impossible.)